Sony: PS3 "the only platform" with growth in software over September of nearly 50%

Sony has responded to last night's NPD figures, and has said it is seeing strong movement at retail for both hardware and software.

The firm claimed sales were "incredibly strong in October" with PS3 the "only platform that had growth in the software over September" to the tune of nearly 50 percent.

"With next week's launch of the industry's most anticipated title, Gran Turismo 5, we're sure to carry the momentum through the holidays," said SECA's senior director of corporate communications, Patrick Seybold.

According to Sony, Move also did well in October, with an 15 percent increase in sales since its September launch. Seybold assures the firm is "working hard to keep the inventory up across the country to meet strong consumer demand" for the season, and talked up some of the software for the motion controller.

"With the growing content and services options for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Network," said Seybold, "including recently added Hulu Plus and NHL GameCenter, as well as the pending launch of Vudu on PS3, we're constantly adding additional value to the hardware and consumers are responding."

According to last night's figures from NPD, Microsoft topped the chart for the third month in a row with Xbox 360, moving around 325K units and bringing the console's YtD total to around the 3.5 million unit mark.

While neither Sony nor Nintendo provided any unit sales figures for PS3 or Wii, IndustryGamers has posted up some numbers  and are reporting Sony moved 250K units and Wii 232K units - a year-over-year decline of 54 percent for the Nintendo consoles.

However, it was reported by NPD Nintendo DS "led the pack" last night, although there still aren't any figures for the handhald floating around.